Building corner construction



Nov. 20, 1956 w. R. WRIGHT BUILDING CORNER CONSTRUCTION Filed' April 19, 1952 INI/EN TOR.

m@?m%% BY AHORA/Ek as with shingle simulating siding panels.

United States Patent O BUILDING CORNER CONSTRUCTION William R. Wright, Westwood, Mass., assignor to Bird &

Son, Inc., East Walpole, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Application April 19, 1952, Serial No. 283,167

3 Claims. (Cl. 205) This invention relates to building corner construction and more specifically to a building corner element which may be applied to the outside of a building in overlapping relation thereto usually in vertical series with overlapping or coplanar intertted horizontal joints.

The corner elements of my invention are especially adapted for use at corner junctions of building walls provided with ornamental siding panels of a type known to the art which are applied with horizontal joints, either ilush, as with brick or masonry simulating siding panels, or overlapping to expose the lower edges of such panels, Such siding panels are commonly formed with alternating areas of differently colored adhesively aixed mineral granules simulating such materials, and my novel corner elements may be similarly formed to carry out the effect provided by the siding panels.

With the type of berboard corner elements with which my invention is concerned, the gradual disintegration of the exposed edges of the corner elements has long been a problem, such disintegration being due to the action of the weather on the edges of the usual commercial berboard or similar composition, even though asphalt coating was applied to the element including the outer exposed edges of such elements.

Accordingly, it is an object of my invention to provide a berboard corner element that will not be subject to such disintegration, but will present an attractive and weather-resistant outer exposed edge surface at all times.

A further object of my invention is to provide a corner element having a hardened vertical edge with greatly increased strength, thus reducing the possibility of physical damage to the corner element both during shipment and after installation.

For the purpose of simplification and economy, the corner element of my invention may be formed with a base which is composed of iberboard and is so constructed that the element maintains its pre-formed angular configuration adapting it for application to the corner of a building, and yet possesses a certain amount of ilexibility permitting the unit to conform more readily with building irregularities usually found. The term liberboard is understood to include various types of composition boards as commonly used in the art, such board commonly being treated to waterproof and strengthen it, for example by treating its surfaces with a sealing composition or by otherwise incorporating a waterproofing and strengthening agent into the board during its manufacture.

For the purpose of further explaining a preferred embodiment of my invention, reference is made to the following drawings, in which,

Fig. 1 is an isometric View of the novel building corner element of my invention as applied to a building corner juncture;

,"Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the corner element of Fig. 1 taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1; and

.The top and bottom edges 12 and 14, respectively, are

rabbeted, the top edge 12 having a rabbet 13 on the outer surface thereof and the bottom edge having a rabbet 15 on the inner surface thereof, said rabbets being of a depth about half the thickness of the tiberboard sheet so that a series of corner elements 2 may be intertted in vertical relationship overlapping the end portions of siding panels 16 at a building corner juncture.

According to my invention, as best shown in Fig. 2, I have provided grooves 20 extending along outer edges 6 between the side surfaces of said corner element panel portions 4, said grooves being of substantial depth, say about 1A to 1A", and spaced from the side surfaces of said panel portions, preferably by a distance small enough to permit complete saturation of the resulting webs 21 adjoining said grooves 20 by a sealing composition, such as light asphalt or resin. The webs 21 and the base of grooves 20 are first saturated with said sealing composition and the grooves 20 are then lled with a coating composition 22, such as, for example, heavy asphalt or resin,'the exposed surface of said coating composition vbeing substantially Hush with the surface of the outer exposed edge 6, such edge being formed of the coated outer edges of webs 21. The novel edge construction of my invention provides a far superior weather-resistant edge and one which remains weathertight and attractive as long as the other portions of the corner piece, since such construction substantially prevents the disintegration of the exposed edges of heretofore known corner elements as both saturation with the sealing composition and incorporation of the coating composition provides a continuous asphalt protected portion for a substantial depth along the vertical edges of the element 2. The additional thickness of coating in the grooves 20 provides, in effect, a reservoir of protective material at that part of the corner element most subject to damage of all types.

Either before, after, or at the same time the groove 20 is filled with coating composition 22, the entire corner element is coated on its weather sides in the usual manner with a material 24 such as asphalt or resin, and the exposed weather surfaces of said element 2 including outer exposed edges 6 are covered with an adherent surfacing of finely divided mineral matter 2S which may be of various colors and coniigurations to provide the appearance of bricks, or the like, similar to that of the siding panels 16, such being well known to the art.

In a modified embodiment of my invention, as shown in Fig. 3, I have provided a number of grooves 20 in the exposed edge 6 of a corner element 2 overlapping siding panel 16. Such construction is particularly useful with relatively thick elements 2 and provides a somewhat more weatherproof corner element than that of the construction shown in Figs. l and 2 when used with such elements, as the depth of penetration of the sealing composition is generally limited to about IAG to 1/8" to maintain, as far as possible, the insulating qualities of the unsaturated berboard. Thus, it is preferable, at least with fiberboard of the type which is saturated after manufacture, to have the webs 21 no more than about 1/4" in thickness in order to realize complete penetration thereof.

Though the corner elements of my invention have been described in terms of a corner element for use with siding panels, corner elements embodying my invention may obviously be used at greater or lesser angles than 90, and as such would be useful in roof construction as well. Similarly my invention may be found useful with siding or other panels having exposed edges. The grooves 20 are preferably continuous for ease in manufacture, but I contemplate that suitable interrupted grooves such as perforations filled with a coating composition might be used, and by the term groove I intend to include such modifications. Other modifications not herein described within the spirit of my invention and the scope of the appended claims will occur to those skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. A building element having a normally exposed outer edge comprising a sheet of berboard having an extended outer edge, a groove extending along said edge between the side surfaces of said berboard sheet, said groove forming webs on either side thereof, said webs being saturated with a sealing composition of asphalt, resin or the like, and coating composition of asphalt, resin or the like in said groove and covering said outer edge for providing a substantially flush weatherproof strengthened outer edge on said building element, said edge being covered with said coating composition, and said groove providing a reservoir of said coating composition.

2. A building corner element adapted to overlap end portions of building panels comprising a sheetof fiberboard bent substantially along a median line forming a pair of fixedly angularly disposed panel portions having extended outer edges, grooves extending along said edges between the side surfaces of said panel portions, said grooves forming webs on either side thereof, said Webs being saturated with the sealing composition of asphalt,

resin or the like, and coating composition of asphalt, resin or the like in said grooves and covering said outer edges for providing substantially ilush weatherproof strengthened outer edges on said corner element, said edges being covered with said coating composition, and said grooves providing reservoirs of said coating composition.

3. A building corner element adapted to overlap end portions of building panels comprising a sheet of berboard bent substantially along a median line forming a pair of xedly angularly disposed panel portions having extended outer edges, grooves extending along said edges between the side surfaces of said panel portions, said grooves forming webs on either side thereof, said webs substantially saturated with a sealing composition of asphalt, resin or the like adjoining said grooves, and coating composition of asphalt, resin or the like in said grooves and covering said outer edges for providing substantially ush weatherproof strengthened outer edges on said corner element, said edges being covered with said coating composition, and said grooves providing reservoirs of said coating composition.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,966,438 Coolidge July 17, 1934 2,184,970 Allen Dec. 26, 1939 2,249,027 Mulderink Iuly 15, 1941 2,512,371 OReilly June 20, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS 162,424 Great Britain of 1921 

